TRENTON — A former clerk for the state Department of Education was sentenced to about a year in jail today for stealing four money orders worth $615 that were intended as payments for teaching certificates, the state Attorney General's Office said.

Dennis Scott, 60, admitted in November to cashing one of the checks and giving the other three to people people to cash, the office said in a news release. Part of his job included opening mail containing checks from teachings for teaching certificates, the office said.

Scott was fired as a result of the investigation, the office said. He pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking, must pay full restitution and was barred from future public employment in New Jersey, the office said. The state was represented by deputy attorneys general Anthony Picione and Victor Salgado.